This invention relates to a brake operating device, and more particularly to a brake operating device which pulls a control wire to operate a bicycle brake.
Generally, this kind of brake operating device comprises a brake lever pivotally supported on a bracket member fixed to a handle bar at the bicycle and a retainer fixed to the lever and attached to one end of the control wire which is secured at the other end to the bicycle brake, so that the lever can be gripped to pull the wire and actuate the brake.
A conventional brake operating device, however, has a constant distance between the lever and the bicycle handle bar which may be too large or small to fit the different hand sizes of different drivers.
In the light of this problem, this invention has been disigned. A main object of the invention is to provide a brake operating device having an easily changed grip dimension. Another object of the invention is to provide a brake operating device having a grip dimension which can be easily changed without changing the relative effective length between a brake control wire and an outer sheath guiding the wire.
This invention is characterized in that a support, which has a receiving portion or receiving bore receiving therein a retainer attached to one end of the control wire, is formed and supported in a tubular manner to a brake lever pivoted to a bracket member, and that a gap sustainer is provided at the support interposable between the front wall of the bracket member and the front surface of the lever opposite to the front wall, so that the support turns to interpose or remove the sustainer into or from a gap between the front wall of the bracket member and the front surface of the lever to thereby change the grip dimension.
The retainer for the control wire is housed within and is rotatable with respect to the support in a relation of being rotatable with respect thereto and is shiftable at its axis of rotation toward the gap sustainer with respect to the axis of rotation of the support. The amount of the shifting is defined to be equal to about half the thickness of the gap sustainer. Hence, the support turns to enable the grip dimension to change without changing the relative effective length between the wire and the outer sheath used for guiding the wire.
Furthermore, the support is separate from the lever, whereby the gap sustainer provided at the support can have its thickness changed to make it possible to change the grip dimension in plural stages. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a brake operating device of simple construction, which by virtue of that turnable support adjusts the grip dimension to a different size cyclist's hand.
These and other objects and novel features of the invention will be more apparent from the following description of an embodiment of the invention in accordance with the accompanying drawings.